When Greg Longfield returned to Wareham in 2007 after serving active duty in Iraq, his PTSD came with him.

He struggled to settle back into civilian life, and after a second deployment in 2009, Longfield said his anxiety and paranoia only increased. 

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I’d just say up all night watching TV until I finally passed out on the couch. It was the only thing distracting me.”

When he woke up, Longfield said it would often be to the sound of a glass bottle wind chime his wife, Cathy, had bought, swaying in the wind outside of their living room window.

“Hearing that wind chime meant I was okay,” he said. “It mean I was here, not there.”

The noise, Longfield said, grounded him. It was a sense of security he struggled to find anywhere else.

“If you knew me back then, you’d say I was crazy,” Longfield said. “But whenever I woke up to the sound of that wind chime, I knew I was okay.”

Doctors suggested that Longfield find a hobby to help him manage his anxiety, and after some thought, Longfield said he decided to try make his own wind chimes based off the one hanging in his front yard. 

It took several attempts and dozens of broken bottles, but with some help from the internet, Longfield said he was finally able to make his first crude model using a wine bottle and a tile saw.

His wind chimes have evolved gradually in design since then, but all follow a similar style using liquor bottles that Longfield collects from recycling centers and his neighbors. The chimes themselves are fashioned out of everyday objects, like sea shells and wood that Longfield collects in Wareham.

“I always try to keep a nautical theme,” Longfield said. “But no two chimes are ever the same.”

Longfield deployed again in 2012 to Afghanistan, putting his hobby on hold until he retired from the service as a lieutenant colonel in 2014. 

“I made dozens of wind chimes that year,” he said. “And after giving them away to all the friends, family and neighbors we had, my wife and I decided it was time to try and sell some.”

Cathy took Longfield’s creations to a craft fair held at St. Patrick’s Church on High Street, selling 18 wind chimes in one day. People loved them, Longfield said.

“We did other small shows after that, like the chalk festival in Onset,” he added. “But our big break was at Upper Cape Tech.”

During the American Made Professional Arts and Crafts Fair at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, Longfield sold over 100 wind chimes in a single day. The success was enough for him to finally give his operation a name: Hero’s Hobby.

Over 700 Hero’s Hobby wind chimes were sold at craft fairs all over Cape Cod in 2018, Longfield said. Countless others were donated to charities to be used as prizes for fundraisers and raffles.

“Maybe when I retire from my job in Boston I’ll start making them commercially,” Longfield said. “But for me, it’s never been about the money.”

With most of his supply gone heading into the spring, Longfield said he’s been hard at work building his inventory back up.

In addition to wind chimes, he’s also started to make lights, candles and tiki torches out of recycled liquor bottles.

“I think there’s something extra special about wind chimes, though,” he said. “Because every time you hear it, you’ll think of the person who gave it to you.”

Longfield’s work can’t be found online, and he rarely attends fairs himself; but interested buyers can find his creations at the Wareham Oyster Festival this spring and on the Providence Town wharf this summer.

“It’s something I did to help myself,” Longfield said. “And I’m glad it’s something that can also make others happy.”